Quite the Peculiar Movie

Madeleine Kwan

Tim Burton is back at it again with yet another dark and eerie movie, Miss. Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children. This film was based roughly on the book series by Ransom Riggs of the same title. The movie aired on September 30th and had gotten a large 15.2M in box office, scoring second most successful box office movie in theatres trailing right behind The girl on the Train (which has gained 24.6M in box office alone).

Miss. Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children is a film about a teenage boy named Jake (played by Asa Butterfield) whose grandfather was mysteriously murdered. Although most of his family believed it was an accidental or simplistically natural death, Jake had reason to believe otherwise. The story follows Jake as he discovers a secret home of peculiar children and, with their help, slowly pieces together the mysteries his grandfather left untold.

I personally very much enjoyed the movie. The characters -although drastically changed from the book versions- were very clever and well-played. Asa really did a phenomenal job in bringing Jake to life and leading the movie forward. Each peculiar child had their own unique peculiarities which made it even more thrilling to watch. Their personalities, in a sense, were almost connected to their gift and made for some very entertaining characteristics. My only wish was for a little more diversity in the characters as they were all white except for the lead antagonist, Barron (played by Samuel L. Jackson).

Unfortunately, just like the characters, the plot did not stay completely true to the book, in fact (though I have not read the books yet) I have been told the plot line is completely different. Nevertheless, in perspective that the movie is separate from the book, I greatly enjoyed it. The story line kept you on edge with sneaky plot twists and engaging scenes.

What made these thrilling scenes even better was the quality in CGI and special effects. When it comes down to making a movie with supernatural themes, low quality or poorly executed effects are just not going to cut it. Luckily, Miss. Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children was incredibly done. From the monsters to the peculiarities, everything seemed so real and so alive.

I’d personally give this movie a 7.8/10. Now don’t get me wrong, I loved the movie, but I felt like some scenes dragged on far too long or were not explained correctly, and the backgrounds of some characters could have been implemented a little bit more to really put the cherry on top. But I do suppose, my judgement couldn’t fit as well as your own. I guess you will just have to go and see the movie for yourselves.